Scrambling through the Superstition Mountains

Yesterday, we made the decision to drive to the mountains today. We talked about camping in the Superstition Mountains and after some research we figured, Why not. It seems that these mountains are really the only place around Phoenix (that we found anyway) that you can BLM camp. Some people on Facebook had also told me that you can camp up there...so away we went to the Superstition Mountains. It seemed like it took us all friggin' day to get up there...oh wait it did! Even with them being about a half hour away from where we were staying at the Lone Butte Casino, it took us the entire day to drive up there. We haven't been getting too early of a start on our day these days...it's been nice to sleep in and do what we need to do, not rushing and all of that. And yes, my emotional attitude is nothing to contend with either these days...it takes time people! ツ Anyway, by the time we got in our exercises, soccer ball kicking and brunch it was a little later in the day than we had anticipated but figured we'd be up in the mountains in no time anyway, so we just ran with it. We were on the Interstate for a few miles and hit bumper to bumper traffic, not due to rush hour, due to them closing off the Interstate for the next 3 exits...okay. We took back roads to Interstate 60 and from there it was smooth sailing.

We drove through the town of Apache Junction, the town that sits at the base of the Superstition Mountains, and kept on the road to where the BLM camping is...or so we thought! It's a beautiful drive through the Tonto National Forest. You drive on a two lane road, one lane going in each direction, sometimes the road is straight and there's tons to look at and at other times the road is dangerously curvy, narrow and twisted and yours truly is hanging on for dear life! The mountains have a million cactus of all kinds along bushes, shrubs and trees...it's crazy to see so many "wild" cactus!

We stayed on this road, for what seemed like (especially to my stomach) 20 miles...but I really only think it was like 5 or 7, less than 20 minutes! We saw a pull-off with a parking lot and decided to pull over and make a decision about what we were going to do. We pulled off at Canyon Lake Vista, a gorgeous scenic view of the mountains and Canyon Lake...but that's all it was, just a view.

Since it was so late in the day, we thought we would drive back down the mountain (same way we came in) and see if we missed something...anything, that looked even close to BLM land to camp for the night, because it didn't really look promising the way we were going. So, we drove back down.

We passed a campground called Tortilla Flat...that was closed for the season and another campground...that was also closed. Even if they were open, they were still paid campgrounds and if you know anything about us, we don't pay to camp! We did more driving and more turning around, heading down dirt roads only to find fences along them with no entry.

[caption id="attachment_3777" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Seems like such a "waste"[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3778" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Fenced in...or fenced out?[/caption]

We found this one turn off that seemed like the most promising out of everything we had done today, but we were wrong (once again) about that. Talk about mega traffic; foot and vehicle. This was the place everyone came to hike into the Superstition Mountains!

[caption id="attachment_3779" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pretty awesome![/caption]

The trail, First Water Trailhead, dead-ended us into a parking lot. At this point in the day, it's about 5:00 p.m., the sun is setting, all the hikers are walking off the trails back to their vehicles and here we are, just getting here! haha We thought, "Why not at least walk down onto the trail a little ways just to see some things."

We walked down the trail about 100 steps, the sun crept behind those mountains so fast, it turned pretty darn chilly so we walked back to the van. When we got to the trailhead, we saw not only hikers but also two Sheriff's trucks as well. They don't call these mountains The Superstition Mountains for no reason, a lot of people (especially the ones that go off trail) get lost...and are never found out here. We were sure the Sheriff's were there for everyone's safety.

[caption id="attachment_3780" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A BIG place![/caption]

Okay, well now we are sitting in the parking lot of this hiking trail with nowhere to camp for the night! We make the decision to just go back to the casino and do more research on these mountains and BLM places to camp....what else can we do!? We hit up a Taco Bell on our way back, we're both famished and don't want to even think about what we're going to make once we're back in the casino lot. It seemed like Taco Bell didn't really have their "act together" either because they gave us more food than what we had ordered, not noticing it until we were a few loaded grillers in and many miles down the road! I guess it all evens out somehow, right!? haha Even though I could have taken an attitude adjustment early on in the day, it still was a good day. We were able to see the beautiful Superstition Mountains and see what was available...er, not available to us for dispersed camping, as well as a day out of the casino lot and on the road. When we got back to Lone Butte, we took a walk through the casino, (we had not done that yet). It's a really nice place inside, smoky but nice. Now we're back in Joon, ready to call it a day and veg out to some tele in the fort.

[caption id="attachment_3783" align="aligncenter" width="225"] The Lot Loners[/caption]

I hope you all found your way today!

PEACE

 

 

 

Yo' Vanilla...Let's Kick It!

We decided yesterday to make some goals for ourselves, nothing too crazy but something to strive for and if nothing else, to give us something new to do! So to kick off the "official" start of our goals we came back to the park we found the other day, Desert Breeze Park. J' brought his weights, jump rope and push-up bars out to the soccer field. I brought Savannah and some other things.

[caption id="attachment_3750" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sir-Jumps-A-Lot[/caption]

We both did our own thing; he did his workout, I did mine and I also flipped through my Healing Crystal book and we all ran around, chased each other and played together. It's a beautiful day today. I also laid in the grass, soaking in the sun...it feels good to have sun touching skin again, also watching J' jump rope.

I love watching him jump rope, he's so darn good at it. He can do some crazy moves and he's hella fast...it's really cool.

[caption id="attachment_3753" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Sorry for her butt...[/caption]

When I jump rope I look like a second grader taking two hops in between one spin...I'm a watcher, not a jumper! haha We walked the trail back to the van, even though the van was parked literally right where we were in the field...more exercise! Plus, the park is so awesome and again it was a beautiful day!

We jumped back in the van, did a few errands, ran over to Wal-mart bought ourselves a Soccer ball and went back over to the park. J' has been wanting a Soccer ball and/or a Football since the Summer and today seemed like thee perfect day to get one...so we did! He played Soccer throughout his childhood, I on the other hand, tried to stay very far away from Soccer while growing up, for a few reasons: 1- I did not want to get kicked and having to play in grade school, know this is a fact of Soccer. 2- I did not like running. 3- I didn't want to get hurt. 4- I was a swimmer...not a person who ran after soccer balls getting kicked in the shins! haha When we had to play in school, I was always at the opposite end of the field from where the ball was, getting yelled at to, "Get in there!" Uh, nope...I was good at 'this' end of the field, where there was no ball kicking action goin' on!

So, this would really be my first attempt at actually kicking the ball and getting the ball kicked back to me, oh and running....ugh running! I think I did enough running for the both of us today due to J' being able to kick the crap out of this ball and my kicking it back to him was like the 2nd grader jumping rope...funny stuff! It was fun though and a really good workout. It's good for the hand-eye coordination, which I actually have! I'm not a total wussy girly girl, I did swim but I also played Water Polo for many many years and that is not a sport for wimps...and it taught me really great hand-eye coordination. It was fun and I think kicking this ball around a few times a week, my legs, ankles and feet will get stronger and it will just get easier! Savannah was so funny to watch, we let her off of her leash because there wasn't anyone around, she ran with us the first couple of times then she just stood off on the side watching us...she's afraid of the ball! This little dog will run, growling and snarling at strangers, bicycles and motorcycles but when you start kicking a soccer ball around, she is the most timid dog you've ever seen. I wanted her to get some exercise with us but every time the ball would go near her she would jump and run away so fast, then come running over to me with her ears down and her tail between her legs. She's such a weirdo. I tried to get her used to the ball by sitting on the grass with her and touching the ball to her back and you would have thought I was trying to 'brand' her with a hot iron.

She's a crazy dog...a good dog, but a crazy dog! She doesn't know what's going on, she's so confused! Poor baby.... haha

Well that was our fun-filled, glorious goal driven day. I hope you were able to get out of the house, RV or van and do something you wouldn't normally do.

Hooray for goals!

PEACE